Endless, continuously moving conveyors in the form of loops which can be, for instance, 2000' in length, are used in painting of products such as, for instance, metal panels. The conveyor lines in the form of endless loops may have inclines and declines and include vertical and horizontal travel.
A typical conveyor speed could be, for instance, 20' per minute.
The conveyors are essentially chain conveyors which have suspended at close intervals, for instance, at 1' centers, hangers. These hangers are generally vertically depending links which are bolted or otherwise securely fastened to the conveyor chains.
The links have holes therein which are intended to receive removable wire hanger hooks passed through the holes at the hanger hook's upper end. The article to be painted, for instance a panel, is hooked onto the lower end of the wire hanger hooks. The hanger hooks can be of, for instance, wire of a 3/16" diameter.
The entire conveyor including loop, the hanger links, hooks and articles are subject to an electrical charge of the type used in the electrostatic process of painting wherein atomized spray paint is attracted to the charged metal. In this process, the paint is not only attracted to the metal product to be painted, but also to the hooks and hanger links since they too are electrically charged.
There is a frequent paint build up on the hanger links and the holes get blocked with paint, so that the wire hanger hook can no longer be inserted. There must be a continuous effort to clean the hanger link holes by drilling, chipping and the like. Generally, the work is done on a hanger link weekly by one man and possibly two who, for instance, work on the hangers while they are moving to remove the paint from the holes and the hanger link itself.
In other instances, the hanger links, because of difficulty in paint removal, must be removed from the conveyor and worked on separately from the conveyor at a fixed station.
The process described above results in the continuous problem of removing paint build up under difficult conditions, since the conveyor is moving constantly in an endless fashion. To shut the conveyor down would cause substantial economic loss.